


Running Towards You

by Omness



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Words Soulmate AU, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 03:17:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omness/pseuds/Omness
Summary: Sam has the most annoying soul words ever. And that’s not just bias speaking, Miscellaneous friend and work groups have all voted so. Even beating out the various “Hi’s” and “Hey’s” and “Pardon me’s.” Because at least those people’s soulmates are likely standing next to him. Sam’s soulmate? Is running away from him.





	Running Towards You

**Author's Note:**

> I have vague notions to make all my soulmate au titles end in 'you' and this is number four. We'll see if I can keep it up. (And thanks to Yamarik, for reading over all my works)

Sam wakes up sweating and shaking from his nightmare. The images are already fading but the fear and the feel of wind rushing past and Riley’s scream echoes in his head. He reaches up and runs a hand down his face in exhaustion, pressing his fingers in hard against his skin to try and keep himself grounded. He lies in the dark like that for a few moments, eyes closed, reaching for sleep and failing. Everything feels wrong, the bed is too soft, his blankets too warm, his room too quiet.

Sighing in exasperation, Sam drags himself up into a sitting position, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He then stands up, curling his toes into the coarse hardwood floor before making his way towards the bathroom connected to his bedroom. He hits the lights, flinching for a moment against the sudden brightness but steadfastly continuing his journey. He uses the toilet and washes his hands, then leans down and splashes water on his face. His soulwords capture his attention for a moment, standing out starkly against the skin of his palm.

“Whoever you are, you better be a lot less trouble than these words have been.” Sam grumbles to himself before continuing with his morning routine. He heads for the kitchen and turns on the coffeemaker and slides a piece of bread into the toaster before returning to his bedroom and putting on a sweater and jogging shorts. Once he devours his breakfast of champions, Sam heads out for his morning jog.

The sky is still dark when he starts running, it’s earlier than he usually starts, but Sam doesn’t mind, it means more time running in cool night air before the day’s heat begins. Sam is about five minutes into his run when he hears it.

“On your left!”

Sam twitches as a rollerblader speeds by him in nothing but a g-string and he shouts at the stranger the first thing that comes to mind, “You do you!” The rollerblader doesn’t even pause and Sam sighs in relief. He wasn’t really ready to have a soulmate who was willing to wear so little while rollerblading anyway.

The next few minutes of Sam’s run he contemplates his soulwords, he hardly heard those words while running anymore. He hardly ever skipped leg day, solid leg muscles being helpful when landing the Falcon, and ended up becoming a speedy runner out of it. So while Sam wasn’t expecting to encounter his soulmate on his jog, there was a strong chance he would hear at least several “on your lefts” once his run was done and that made Sam want to groan in frustration. It was seriously annoying yelling at random strangers moving at speed away from you just to confirm whether they were your soulmate or not. He would give up, but the idea of meeting his soulmate once by chance on the sidewalk, and possibly never finding them again in this big city? He couldn’t risk it.

Lost in his thoughts Sam doesn’t hear the the incoming fast footsteps until they’re right behind them and a slightly airy. “On your left,” is spoken. Then a well muscled man  _ runs _ past him in what is basically a sprint and  _ keeps going _ . Sam is in too much shock to say anything and just watches the man keep running way past what anyone should manage. It takes a moment, but Sam finally realizes that was Captain freaking America that ran by him. Then several moments later he realizes that Captain freaking America said his soulwords and he didn’t say anything back. For a moment, Sam is so distraught he barely manages to say a ‘Thank you’ to a random pedestrian that compliments his running form. But then with a mental shrug, Sam moves on, what were the chances Captain America was his soulmate anyway?

A sound of fast approaching footsteps reaches Sam’s ears along with another, “On your left,” And Sam is stunned, stunned he says, when Captain America passes him  _ again. _ Too stunned to say anything, and a little indignant too, but gets distracted by watching the sway of the Captain’s ass as he continues to run.

The third time Sam is passed by the Captain with an “On your left,” he swears it sounds smug. That’s when Sam decides it’s not ‘Captain’ but instead is ‘Steve’ and Steve just challenged Sam’s pride in his running and he will not take that sitting down, in fact he’ll run farther than he was planning to, just to prove a point.

But Steve keeps passing him, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, each time with an “On your left” and Sam was feeling salty. There were so many other miles of running path in D.C that wouldn’t have Steve taking laps, but here the man was, showing up Sam with no problem at all. 

On the seventh pass Sam can’t help the sarcastic, “Uh-huh, on my left. I got it.” That slips out. Because seriously, besides for the rollerblader earlier he hasn’t seen any runners and Sam wasn’t the type to veer all over the sidewalk while jogging so really, there was need for Steve to point out everytime he passed him.

Then to Sam’s shock, Steve comes to a screeching halt so suddenly that Sam actually catches up and runs past him before realizing what happened. Surprised, Sam stops too, panting as he turns to look questioningly back at Steve who is staring at him in shock, mouth open and eyes wide.

“What did you just say?” Steve asks quietly, not even sounding out of breath, dammit.

Then what Steve is asking hits Sam and he says slowly, taking the time to taste each word, hardly daring to believe it, “Uh-huh, on my left. I got it.”

Immediately, Steve’s face breaks out into a grin, “Those are my soulwords.” He then reaches up and pulls at the collar of his, Sam would say too-small but then he couldn’t see those glorious abs, shirt to reveal words scribbled under his left collarbone in Sam’s handwriting.

Sam can’t help but grin back, panting from exertions as he approaches Steve with his palm out to show his words, then moves it down for a handshake. “The name’s Sam Wilson.” When he’s barely a foot away Steve takes Sam’s hand in his, almost unconsciously running his thumb over the words there, causing Sam to shiver.

“Steve Rogers.”

“So I gathered.”

The moment is broken when a rollerblader almost runs into them, yelling, “Move it!” The sun had come up by this time, and with it a hoard of other people trying to use the paths.

With a guilty smile Steve moves off the running path towards a row of trees, not letting go of Sam’s hand. Sam doesn’t mind in the least. To think that Captain freaking America was his soulmate.

Once Steve stops near the shade of one of the trees he turns and faces Sam with a smile. “Y’know, when I came out of the ice and found I had soulwords, I thought they would have already lived and died by the time I found them, but here you are.”

“Here I am.” Sam says agreeably, tightening his hold on Steve’s hand. “It must have freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting.”

Steve gives an awkward smile. “It takes some getting used to.” He then glances down at their joined hands, his smile falling as he pulls his hand away. “But I should get going, I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”

Stunned at Steve’s response, and a little desperate to keep him here a little longer, to let him know he wasn’t a  _ bother _ , Sam takes a few steps after him and says the first thing that comes to mind. “It’s your bed isn’t it.”

Steve looks back at him, confused. “What’s that?”

Feeling relief that he managed to catch Steve’s attention, Sam continues, “It’s too soft right? Over there I slept on rocks, but I come back and it’s like...”

“A marshmallow.” Steve finishes. “It feels like I’m going to sink right through the floor.”

Sam nods in agreement and the conversation continues. Maybe, just maybe, he actually has a chance with Steve, won’t be forgotten amidst Captain America’s avenging and out saving the world. And if he is? Well, he’ll just remind Steve of what he’s missing.

When a fancy car pulls up to take Steve away, Sam feels disappointed, but is amazed to realize that’s  _ Black Widow  _ sitting in the driver’s seat and that assuages the feeling a little at the fact that he’s actually face to face with her. The feeling then turns to amusement at Steve’s flirty goodbye. “You can’t run everywhere.”

“No you can’t.” Sam agrees.

‘But you ran straight into my heart.’ Sam thinks as the car drives away


End file.
